1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to litter boxes for cats and more particularly it relates to a disposable, stackable, crushable litter box or container for cats.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cat litter boxes are generally nondisposable and made out of hard material such as hard plastic or metal. The reason is that the box has to contain several pounds of litter and the box also has to accommodate the cat jumping into the box containing the litter. The cat uses the litter box and the litter box has to be emptied and the litter disposed of from time to time.
Disposable cat litter boxes have been invented to simplify the process of cat litter disposal but they do not solve all the problems and have several drawbacks. One particular problem is that soiled cat litter should not be handled repeatedly to avoid bacterial infections. A simple disposable bag would not suffice since sufficient structure is needed to (i) contain the approximately five pounds of cat litter typically placed into a cat litter container, (ii) provide a sturdy environment for the cat to jump into and move around in while relieving itself and (iii) be able to withstand scratching by the cat's paws both for sanitary reasons and to avoid the inconvenience of litter and refuse spillage onto the living room floor. Complicated or bulky structures would surely address these requirements but would be difficult to dispose of and/or expensive over the long run. The prior art has addressed these concerns but have not disclosed anything that combines all the sturdiness yet lightweight flexibility that are both needed.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,381 to Salmon is a disposable cat litter box made of a single sheet of corrugated cardboard unfolded and having various end and side extensions including end flaps and tabs. For disposal, the tabs are rotated within the end extensions in order to release the side and end extensions for refolding to their original positions at the top of the box.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,603 to Coes discloses a disposable box-like container for cat litter having a bottom wall and four side walls and having a bag-like moisture proof structure that is exposed such as when a tear-tape is removed to provide sanitary disposal of the cat litter.
In neither of these or other patents is there provided a crushable and disposable cat litter box whose fixed structure is so minimal that the entire box is not only sanitary, convenient and simple to use but also lightweight, easy to manufacture and very cheap and can be crushed into a small space even though the box itself is sufficiently large to accommodate even large cats and five pounds of cat litter.